House construction panel



Sept. 9, 1941` E. HAMILTON HOUSE CONSTRUCTION PANEL Filed Oct. 17, 1938 lfon cfg( ATTORNEYS lN/ENTOR HJW EdmondsB'Yl'o Patented sepas, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT *OFFICE` y z,255,315 noUsE CONSTRUCTION PANEL Edmundston Hamilton, Seattle, Wash.`

Application october 17, 193s, serial No. 235,521

k (ci. -4)

, 2 Claims.

My presentinvention relates to the art of prefabricated house construction and more particularly to house construction panels. y/

It is well recognized that one of the real needs of this country is low finalcost, house construction. The ever increasing cost of labor has disproportionately increased the cost of small homes.

It is, therefore, the object of my present invention to provide home construction panels, having wide adaptability as to house design, which can be factory assembled and delivered to a property owner who, himself, can, with little or no assistance, erect the same at a minimum of labor and cost and still be assured that when vertically disposed studding members 2|) and male studding members 2|. Each panel is then provided with an upper horizontal member 23 and a lower horizontal member 24. These members enclose the airchambers as 26'and 2l. These. chambers can be left merely lled with air or, for use in severe climates, they may be filled with any of the approved types of heat insulating products. Attention is invited'to', the fact that the inner panel as I1 is shorter than the outer panel I8.I This is to providefor an upper and lower covering board such as is probably best illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. This provides nish and a weather tight closure.

l5 To anchor the bottom of my panels I provide,

finished he will have a snug, tight, permanent v structure.

A further object of my present inventionis to provide house construction panels, provided with factory inserted door and window frames of a simplified character, which may be assembled by unskilled labor and so arranged that, when assembled, a tight, secure, permanent structure is obtained. v

Another important object of my present in-'r vention is to provide a panel for building purposes, so arranged that the cutting and fabrication of the panels can be very quickly and easily accomplished, in a central plant so that wastage of material canv be avoided and the panels supplied to their erectors in numbered blocks to facilitate their easy assembly into a nished house.

Other andmore specific objects will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein floor so that it overlapsjthe floor joist 32.

As each of the panels is placed ,inv itsvertical position in engagement withkeepers SII the female portions illustrated at 34 are treated with glugif ar permanent wall is desired, and the entire straight wall is clamped together. ,When

' these members are securely joined together Akey Figure 1 is a typical, sectional'view through a house made after the teachings of my invention, the same being broken on its principal dimensions to increase the size, in proportion, of the essential parts.

Figure 2 is a typical wall elevation, the same plates, as 42, are used to secure the upper end of the panels against displacement. The plates are set in between the inner and outer panels I'land I8 and it will be apparent that a continuous keying arrangement is provided which will' pre vent any working of 'the panels, and distribute the strain d ue to wind pressure, shock,. and the\ like that might otherwise fall on the upper end of the panels where the female joints as .34 are formed. A J

It will be noted particularly from Figures 1 and 2 that the lower keeper members 30 t in between the side panel members I1 and I8 in the ,e

same 'manner and again provide the keying arrangement which ladequately distributes any unusual strain.' In this connection it is desired `to the key plate 42 and the auxiliary plate 80, the outer panel I8 also extends high enough to overlap and enclose the ends of the rafter 14 and to cooperate in close proximity with the undersurface of the roof panel 18. In this way I eiect a simple, air tight shield between the outer panel I8 of the wall units and the upper panel 18 of the roof units, and there is no possibility of air being entrapped under the eave and forced into the attic of the house between the rafters. At the same time I eliminate expensive and elaborate cutting and tting to insure such a tight joint around the rafters. Across the gable end of the structure, built according to the principles of my invention, the outer panel I8 completely enoloses the member 58, which' is part of the auxiliary plate, and the depending edge of the overlapping or overhanging outer panel 60 cooperates with the panel I8 to effect a tight closure in this portion of the building.

The roof structure of my house embodies the same general principles employed in the rest of my structure. It has been found desirable to use special panels therefor. The gable panel is formed much as my other panels in that an outer panel 60 and an inner panel 55 are employed spaced from each other normally by a framework of the same thickness as the wall structure, but having in addition a ller 54 equal in thickness to the outer panel of the wall so that the outer panel of the gable will overlie the wall. These I have illustrated at 51 and 58. In the case of large gables having either wideextent or a large rise it would be desirable to have vertical partitioning and supporting members which are not shown in the drawing of Figure 2. In addition to these members a finish or molding is employed at 6I and the gable is notched at 62 so as to receive the ridge member 54. The construction of this ridge member is quite fully illustrated in Figures l and 2. It will be noted that it has the upper peaked surface 66 having the same slopes as the roof and at the spacing equal to the spacingV of the roof panels, I have provided on each side of the ridge proper, sloping surfaces 68 and 69. Key members are provided at each end of the ridge as at 12. v

AThe roof panel units themselves are laid up in much the same manner as the wall panel units being formed with male and female edges which engage adjacent members which are painted with glue in permanent structures land then joined together as by the clamp arrangement. It will be noted that in order to provide for complete intimate tting that the rafter members 14 which now take the place of the studding members in the wall panels are beveled at their upper end so as to t into the vertical space of the ridge member, and when the panels are put in place as are probably best illustrated in Figure 1, the inner panel board 16 and the outer panel board 18 make snug nts with the ridge member and the wall panel member; to accomplish this an auxiliary plate member 80 is secured to the lower beveled end of the rafter members at 82. These auxiliary plate members fit in on top of plates 42, used to key the side panels together as is believed will be clear from Figure 1. Thus, when these units are fully secured they make a comprovide, principally for finish, I lhave shown the eave closure members 86.

Throughout my entire specification I have generally inferred that my various panel units are glued together; this is the most desirable.

form where the panels are made of wood, or Wood products, and where'a permanent structure is desired. On the other hand my panel units make a very convenient knock-down, or portable, house structure in which case the various'panel units would be secured to the keeper and plate members by a limited number of screws; or, in the case of metal, by small bolts or machine screws. It will be understood, it is believed, that my panel units could be made from any suitable building material which Would include fabricated wall boards of various types,v metal plate with metal studding and rafter members, or be molded from plastic materials, or glass.

The foregoing description and the accompanying drawing are believed to clearly disclose a preferred embodiment of my invention but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative and that such changes in the invention may be made as are fairly within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a building structure including a floor having a xed edge rail, a key plate, and an auxiliary plate disposed upon said key plate, a wall unit comprising inner and outer panels spaced apart from each other, an upper cross rail between said panels insetl from the upper edges thereof to form a cross-groove for the reception of the key plate and auxiliary plate, the upper edge of the outer panel projecting upwardly beyond the upper face of the auxiliary plate and the upper edge of the inner panel terminating flush with the upper face of the auxiliary plate whereby roof joists resting thereon will have .their ends enclosed by the upwardly projecting outer panel.

2. In a building structure including aoor having a fixed edge rail, a key plate, and a roof having an auxiliary plate disposed upon said key plate and an upper panel spaced from and overhanging said auxiliary plate, a wall unit comprising inner and outer panels spaced apart from each other, an upper cross rail between said panels inset from the upper edges thereof to form a cross-groove for the reception of the key plate and the auxiliary plate, the upper edge of the outer panel projecting upwardly beyond the auxiliary plate and the upper edge of the inner panel terminating fiush with the upper face of said plate whereby roof joists resting thereon will have their ends enclosed by the upwardly projecting outer panel which is also cooperable with the underside of the upper panel of the roof to seal the space between said auxiliary plate and the roof panel.

l EDMONDS'ION HAMILTON. 

